Reel for wire rods



(No Model.) 2 SheetS-S heet 1 W. GARRETT.

REEL FOR WIRE RODS. No; 396,925. Patented Jan. 29. 1889.

WITNESSES:

6. @JZ mm M.

2 Sheets-Sheefn 2.

(No Model.)

W. GARRETT.

REEL FOR WIRE RODS.

Patented Jan. 29, 1889.

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N PETERS Pholu-Liihogmplvcr. Washinginn. D. C.

llnTTnn STATES aTnNT Trice.

\VILLIAM GARRETT, OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS.

REEL FOR WIRE RODS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 396,925, dated January29, 1889.

Application filed June 25, 1888. Serial No. 278,115. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM GARRETT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Joliet, in the county of \V ill and State of Illinois, haveinvented or discovered a certain new and useful Improvement in Reels for\Vire- Rod Mills, of which improvement the following is a specification.

In reducing four-inch blooms to No. 4: wire rods the bloom, which priorto entering the first pass of the billet-rolls was approximately twofeet long and four inches square, is by each succeeding pair of rollsreduced in transverse section and elongated until as it emerges frombetween the last pair of rolls of the rodtrain in the form of wire rodit has been reduced to about one-quarter of an inch in diameter and hasbeen elongated to about eight hundred feet. In order to provide for thispro gressively-increasing length, each succeeding train or pair of rollsmust be driven at a pro portionately higher speed, the peripheral speedof the last pair of rolls being between six or seven hundred feet aminute. Suitable reels driven at a high. speed are provided for windingup and coiling these rods as they come from the last pair of rolls.These reels are located. in front of and at a considerable distance fromthe last pair of rolls, and as the front end of the rod comes from therolls and slides along the mill-floor toward the reels it is caught by acatcher and quickly bent around one of the fingers of the reel, whichisthen started and the length of rod quickly wound thereon. The reel isthen stopped, the bundle of rod removed, the end of another length ofrod attached, and the reel again started. As the operation of catchingthe front end of the rod and connecting it to the reel requires timeeven with an expert workman, the rod which is being rapidly fed out ofthe last pair of rolls must be prevented from becoming tangled andkinked during this short lapse of time. A boy provided with a hook istherefore stationed at the reels for the purpose of guiding therapidly-moving rod and disposing the same in loops over the iioor insuch manner that it may be drawn onto the reels without becoming tangledor kinked; and, further, such delays frequently occur in removing abundle of rod from the reel that when the mill is being rapidly workedan entire length of rod is spread or looped out upon the floor beforeany of the reels are ready for use, although two or more may form a partof the plant.

The object of the invention herein is to provide such a construction andarrangement of reels as to dispense with the delays incident to thecatching and attaching of the ends of the rods to the reels and to thedischarging the bundles from the reels, thereby avoiding the necessityof spreading or looping out the rods upon the doors and rendering theoperation. of the entire plant more nearly automatic.

To these ends the invention consists, in general terms, in theconstruction and combination. of devices, all as more fully hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,Figure 1 is a view showing part of the rod-train in. section and thereeling apparatus in. elevation. Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation ofthe reeling apparatus, one of the reels being shown in section; and Fig.3 is an end elevation of the reeling apparatus.

In the practice of my invention I arrange at a suitable distance fortyfeet, more or less-in front of the last pair of rolls, 1, of therod-train suitable bearings, 2 and 3, and in the bearings or journals 2,I mount the shaft 1, having the pulley 5 secu red thereon midway betweenthe bearings. A belt, 6, is passed around the pulley 5 and a pulley, 7,on the counter-shaft 8, on which is also secured a cone-pulley, 9. Asimilarly-shaped but oppositely-arranged pulley, 10, is secured to asecond counter-shaft, 11, a belt, 12, being passed around said conepulleys. This second countor-shaft, 11, is driven by a belt, 13, passingaround the pulley 14c, keyed thereon, and a pulley secured on. thedriving-shaft of the rod-train. A belt-shifting mechanism is employedfor shifting the belt 12 along the conepulleys in order to adjust thespeed of the reels in accordance with the speed of the rolls 1, it beingdesirable that the peripheral speed of the reels should be equal to theperipheral speed of the rolls 1.

Nhile preferring to employ an c rrangement of driving mechanism whereinthe pulley 5, its shaft 4, and the parts operated thereby are rotatedcontinuously, as in the mechanism above described, it may be desirableat times to stop and start said pulley, shaft, and their connectedmechanism. I therefore arrange a loose pulley, 7 alongside of the pulley7 and provide suitable mechanism for shifting the belt 6 from the fastto the loose pulley, and vice versa.

On each end of the shaft at is secured onehalf of the reels, each ofwhich consists of two parts or disks, 17 and 18, preferably formed withgrooves 19 cut in their contiguous edges, thereby forming a grooved orflanged wheel or drum when the disks are placed together, as shown atthe left of Fig. 2, the flanges around the outer edges of the disksserving as guides or retainers to prevent any lateral displacement ofthe wire rod during the wind ing or reeling operation. The parts 18 ofthe two reels are mounted on the inner ends of the shafts 20, journaledin the bearings 3, arranged in line with the bearings 20f the shaft 1.The parts or disks 18 are provided with comparatively long hubs 21 ontheir rear sides, so as to form long bearings on the shafts 20, on whichthey are so mounted as to permit of their being shifted along it towardand from the disks 17. This longitudinal movement of the disks along theshafts is effected by means of the bell-crank levers 22, having one oftheir ends forked for the purpose of engaging a groove, 24, on oppositesides of the hubs 21. (See Fig. 1.) The opposite ends of the bell-cranksare connected to operating -handles, preferably extending up to aplatform, 25, above the reels, in order to remove the operator out ofall danger, and to permit him to havea clear view of the reels and therods as they emerge from the rolls. By a suitable arrangement of leversand connecting-rods I provide for the operation of both of thelongitudinal adjustable disks and the mechanism for shifting the belt 6from one point on the platform. The movements of the disks 18 toward thedisks 17 are facilitated by weights 23, adjustably attached to one armof each of the bell-eranks 22. A suitable arrangement of springs may beemployed in lieu of the weights.

On the inner faces of the disks 17 and near their peripheries I preferto form grooves 26, corresponding projections or rings, 27, being formed011 the inner faces of the disks 18, said grooves and projectionsserving as clamping-jaws to grasp and hold the rod at the beginning ofand during the winding of the rods upon the reels, as will more fullyhereinafter appear, and also to bridge over the space between the innerfaces of the disk when a rod has been grasped between them, and there byprevent any of the coils from being forced into said space. Below thereels are located blocks or supports 28, adapted to receive the bundlesof rods when freed from the reels, and from the rear side of the reelsextend troughs 20, along which the bundles roll to a car, 30, wherebythe bundles are removed out of the way. Between the rolls 1 and thereels is arranged an adjustable trough or tube, 31, for guiding the rodsfirst to one reel and then to the other, or two troughs or tubes may beemployed.

As the front end of the rod passes between the disks 17 and 18 of one ofthe reels, said disks being separated for that purpose, theoperating-handle is shifted, thereby moving the two disks together andclamping the rod between them, a short kink being formed in the rod bythe groove 26 and projection 27. As the disk 17 rotates continuously, acorresponding motion will be imparted to the disk 18 as soon as the twodisks are brought together, and the rod will be wound upon the reel thusformed by the two disks. After an entire length of rod has been woundupon the reel the disk 18 is pulled away from the disk 17, therebyreleasing the bundle and permitting it to drop down onto the supportingblock. The high impetus imparted to the bundles by the disks will causesaid bundles to roll along the delivery-troughs to the cars, therebyleaving the reels clear for operation on the next or any subsequent rod.

It will be seen from the above that no delay occurs in the use of theabove-described apparatus in guiding the ends of the rods to the reelsand connecting them thereto, as the trough or tube guides the rod to andbetween the disks, which are immediately closed thereupon,and as theperipheral speed of the reels is equal to that of the rolls the rod, assoon as caught, will be wound up as fast as delivered by the rolls 1. Asthe clampinggrooves and projections or rims when used extend entirelyaround the inner faces of the disks, it is immaterial at what pointbetween them the rod is fed, nor is it material whether the rod iscaught at or near the end or at a point twenty or thirty feet distanttherefrom, as the protruding en d will be wrapped around the reel.

As the construction of reel described relieves itself, and, as it iswere, throws the bundles away from it, only one reel would be absolutelynecessary in the usual construction or form of wire-rod plant; but toavoid all liability of delay through unforeseen accidents I prefer touse two or more, as shown.

As shown, the handles for operating the movable disks 18 are providedwith teeth or other suitable device whereby the disks 18 may be heldaway from the disks 17 when desired.

I claim herein as my invention 1. In an apparatus for reeling wire rods,the combination of two disks mounted in independent shafts, one of saiddisks being movable toward or from the other for the purpose ofdischarging the coil of long rod therefrom, substantially as set forth.

2. In an apparatus for reeling wire rods, the combination of two disksmounted upon independent shafts, one of said disks being movable towardor from the other, and flanges or other retaining devices on the outeredges of the disks to prevent lateral displacement of the wire rod,substantially as set forth.

3. In an apparatus for reeling wire rods, the combination of two disksmounted on independent shafts, one of said disks being movable towardand from the other, whereby the rod may be grasped between said disks atthe beginning of the reeling operation and the bundle automaticallydischarged therefrom, substantially as set forth.

4:. In a reeling apparatus, the combination of a continuously-rotatingdisk and a looselymounted disk movable toward and from the rotatingdisk, said disks havin their con tiguous faces constructed, as regardstheir peripheral edges, to receive and hold a length of wire rod,substantially as set forth.

5. In a reeling apparatus, the combination of a continuously-rotatin gdisk and a looselymounted disk movable toward and from the rotatingdisk, said disks having their contiguous faces constructed, as regardstheir peripheral edges, to receive and hold a length of wire rod, andprovided with jaws or other devices for grasping the rod, substantiallyas set forth.

6. In an apparatus for reeling wire rods, the combination of two disksseparable from each other for the purpose of discharging a bundle of rodwrapped around the peripheries of said disks, and a trough for receivingsuch bundle and conducting the same away from the disks, substantiallyas set forth.

7. I11 an apparatus for reeling wire rods, the combination of two disks,one of which is movable toward and away from the other, said disks beingprovided on the inner faces with a groove and projection, respectively,sub-- stantially as set forth.

8. The combination of the delivery-rolls of a rod-train, a pair ofseparable disks forming a reel, a guide for conducting the rod from therolls to said disks, and a trough for receiving and conducting away abundle of rod from the reel, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

\VILLIAM GARRETT.

Witnesses:

CHARLES PETTIGREW, F. S. PACKARD.

